Hurricane Irma: 170 Indians evacuated from Sint Maarten

People line up to board a plane and leave the island after it was devastated by Hurricane Irma in Sint Maarten, Netherlands, on Monday. Photo: Reuters

New Delhi: As many as 170 Indians have been evacuated from the Hurricane Irma-hit Sint Maarten and brought to the Caribbean island of Curacao by special flights chartered by the Indian government.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said Indian envoy in Venezuela Rahul Srivastava has informed that 60 other people were also evacuated along with Indians from the hurricane-hit place.

Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said in a tweet late last night that 110 Indians and Indian-origin evacuees were brought to Curacao from Sint Maarten. In a series of tweets, Swaraj on Wednesday said the second flight carrying 60 Indians also landed in Curacao. “Rahul Srivastava informed that second flight also landed in Curacao with 60 Indians and 30 others from St.Maarten,” the minister said on the micro-blogging site.

Sint Maarten, that is jointly administered by France and the Netherlands, was directly in Hurricane Irma’s path. The island suffered widespread destruction after the storm made landfall last week and wreaked havoc on the Caribbean islands.